The state of the economy has forced many companies to reduce costs to stay competitive.
Labor costs are typically a prime focus during tough economic times. Efforts to reduce labor costs should be carefully considered, however, to avoid unintended and greater liabilities than the cost savings to be realized from the change.
In making decisions intended to [...] [...]
Facing an increasingly litigious environment, companies are taking extra steps to protect themselves from legal action resulting from layoffs and disputes.
They are crafting more severance packages with provisions prohibiting litigation, consulting with attorneys before conducting layoffs, providing outplacement and, in general, doing what they can to reduce the risk of being sued at a time [...] [...]
By Claude Solnik
Dolan Media News Service
Workplace litigation is at an all-time high as unemployment has risen. And experts don’t expect layoffs or litigation to slow any time soon.
Attorneys said high unemployment traditionally fuels a large number of workplace complaints as former employees seek compensation for real or perceived discrimination.
“We’re not seeing it yet,” said Kim [...] [...]

Amid department-wide layoffs, furloughs and pay reductions at the Colorado Springs Gazette, Publisher Steve Pope received two bonuses totaling $30,000.
Bonuses to Pope, who took his job earlier this year, were among $3.7 million in management by objective bonuses paid to top Freedom Communications executives during the past year, according to the Colorado Springs Business Journal’s [...] [...]
In the event that Colorado Springs voters fail to approve a proposed mill levy increase during the Nov. 3 election, the city will have to make many painful choices.
Will council implement furloughs and layoffs, close the Pioneers Museum and city recreation centers, and put the city park system on “life support”?
We don’t know.
But it seems [...] [...]
Hirings at U.S. mortgage firms outpaced layoffs by more than 8,000 during second quarter 2009.
While lenders laid off 3,229 employees between April 1 and June 30, second quarter layoffs were about 71 percent fewer than during the prior quarter, and 31 fewer than for the same period last year.
At the same time, mortgage hirings picked [...] [...]
NEW YORK - American Express said Monday it is eliminating about 4,000 jobs as part of a plan to slash another $800 million in costs for the remainder of the year.The layoffs represent about 6 percent of the New York-based credit card issuer’s current global work force.
Many of the affected workers were notified in recent [...] [...]
The legal profession has contracted to the lowest level since the early 1990s - prompting bar associations, placement offices and legal journals to try to help attorneys find and keep jobs.
Nationwide, about 13,000 lawyers were fired during the first quarter of this year.
In Colorado Springs, Holland and Hart said it hasn’t had any layoffs, nor [...] [...]

T. Rowe Price has cut 44 workers from its staff of about 700 in Colorado Springs.
Companywide 288 were laid off as part of a 5.5 percent staff reduction that was announced along with first quarter earnings results today.
“Broadly speaking, the majority of reductions were in the processing and technology groups,” spokesman Brian Lewbart said. Employees were [...] [...]